Playoff basketball brings out the best intensity among fierce competitors. Just ask anyone who wore a Shiga Lakestars or Kyoto Hannaryz uniform on Sunday, or loyal supporters who screamed their lungs out for either team.
Especially since the budding rivalry reached do-or-die time: a 10-minute tiebreaker, a mini-game, to determine which team would advance to the bj-league's Western Conference semifinals next weekend against the top-seeded Ryukyu Golden Kings.
Eight games had been played between the Lakestars and Hannaryz in the 2010-11 season before the tiebreaker, with Shiga winning five of them.